


i love you, bluebell

by gloomypooltoy (orphan_account)



Category: Lego Ninjago
Genre: M/M, cole is traumatized tho, just good wholesome pining bros, not from an event in this fic he just Is
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-11
Updated: 2020-05-11
Packaged: 2021-03-02 17:54:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,115
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24130897
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/gloomypooltoy
Summary: cole and jay visit ed and edna during their journey to find sensei wu
Relationships: Cole/Jay Walker
Comments: 5
Kudos: 61





	i love you, bluebell

Cole sighed. The stony surface underneath the mat felt like a plush bed after his bones had been worn from trekking up the mountainside all day long. He forgot the vulnerability of the wide, black sky yawning above him. And the bumpy pebbles itching between him and the earth went unnoticed as sleep tugged with its lulling hand.

He was fading away when something small slithered against his back. He jolted awake, tossing off his blanket.

"Jay! You have your own sleeping mat!"

"I'm cold!" Jay cried. He stayed curled up next to where Cole had been lying, bug-eyes staring up at Cole. "And you're so warm, and big."

Cole flushed. "You talk in your sleep-- go back to your mat."

"Pleeaaseee? Just for tonight? I'm freezing!"

Cole covered up his frown's absence by lying down and rolling over away from Jay. He grumbled, "Fine. But I'm going to remember this when you try and argue with me all day."

" _Yay_ ," Jay groaned in relief. He snuggled up to Cole, and Cole could feel him shivering against Cole's back. Jay warmed into stillness once Cole put an arm around him. He knew very well it would only get colder as they progressed higher. He let his weariness set back in once more, and before he knew it, it was morning.

They continued their climb as soon as Cole jostled Jay awake. The mountain was barren all the way up, aside from a few tough plants that were capable of rooting in the mountain's icy crags. Sheets of ice made the slope slippery and unsteady alongside the heavy increase in snow. Cole considered climbing one of his strong suits, but this was a challenge even for him. He worried for Jay. Though the nervously muttering ninja was nimble enough to get stable footholds, Cole knew that one small slip-up could end in disaster.

The rocks eventually gave way to flat cliffs, and after moving up a subtle slope, Cole and Jay found life in a village settled along a birch forest. They were almost out of food at their stop last night. Cole figured that while they investigated the village they could restock on supplies.

The villagers seemed hesitant of the visitors at first, but learning of the ninja's intentions warmed them up quickly. In a mellow cabin with a few villagers, Cole and Jay ate roasted trout, of which he had plenty of helpings-- Hot, seasoned food! It always made him miss Zane even more than usual. He asked villagers about Wu in the meantime.

The small number of residents didn't have much information, but a few villagers pointed out nearby villages for the ninja pair to implore. Furthest off and most promising was another range of mountains, where a temple of monks studied. Cole marked it down on their map with Jay peering over his shoulder.

"Hey, the Sea of Sands! I didn't know we were that close to my parents! Think we could stop by?" Jay pointed at a plain yellow space between the mountain ranges on the map.

Cole lifted his pen from the map. "I don't know. We shouldn't be getting sidetracked."

"Aw, c'mon, it's not that far, and it's on the way to the temple. What if there's a clue or something on the way?"

"I wouldn't want to show up out of the blue and bother them..." Cole said.

"They're my parents, they won't mind! Didn't you use to tell me I didn't visit enough?"

Cole's pen still hovered over the map and Jay added, "Trust me, you can come with. They think you're super nice. Not like your tightwad dad."

Cole laughed at that. "Okay, sure, we can visit. If we can look for clues on the way." Cole rolled the map back up and tucked it away in his bag.

After two days of going through the neighboring villages with similar results, Cole and Jay headed down the other side of the mountain. The warm, orange rock slowly introduced them to the Sea of Sands. Cole hoped that they could catch a bus or something to the scrapyard, but Jay was eager to get going, and clues might've cropped up easier if they went on foot.

The utility poles' wires sagged in the heat, and the sand was a rippling yellow ocean as far as Cole could see. Starting upon the road around midday made the sun relentless. While sweat rolled down Cole, Jay trotted along the scorching pavement, unbothered. Growing up in the desert, with the advantage of not being dressed in black, and less heavy, must have made the heat bearable. By the time the Scrapyard's sign appeared, Cole felt as if he might faint.

The neon sign was turned off when they passed under it. Cole pictured it bright and buzzing once the sun would set. Then the sand would lose its simmering heat, instead taking on a sweet after-warmth, like the moon reflected the sun's rays.

Jay had to yell over a mish-mash of noise once they were inside. "Ma! Pa! Hello?"

The noise whirred to a stop, and revealed itself to be Ed drilling something. Cole and Jay spotted him as they turned the corner around a pile of scrap metal. Two people Cole didn't recognize stood to the side. Jay looked right past them, so maybe customers?

"Why, hello Jay!" Ed exclaimed "And hello, Cole! It's good to see you two!"

The two customers turned and whispered to each other-- “..the ninja?.." Cole overheard --and when Jay ran up to Ed for a hug, their eyes widened.

"Hey, pa! We're on a mission right now. I thought we oughta stop by."

Cole said his own hello and Ed surprised him by pulling him into a tight hug.

"I'm workin' right now, but I'll be with you by dinner time," Ed said. "Your ma's inside-- she'll be so happy to see you!"

"Okay. Bye, pa!" Jay said. Before him and Cole could walk away, the two customers asked for a photo with them, which Cole and Jay gladly provided.

Edna greeted them as Ed had predicted when Jay rapped on the trailer door. She gave them another set of hugs and invited them inside. It was a little cooler in the trailer..

"What're you two doin' here? Where's the rest of your little team?" Edna asked.

"We're on a mission; I'll tell ya more when Pa's around, so I don't gotta tell it two times." Cole found Jay's sudden drawl charming. Jay had spoken with it when he'd first arrived at the monastery, but by the time Kai had joined it was mostly gone. It slipped through now and then, when Jay got frustrated or excited, but revisiting his parents would always coax it out again.

"So it's just the two of you?" Edna set the ladle she'd been holding back in a pot on the stove. 

"Yeah, ma."

Edna chuckled as she turned, and Cole wasn't sure what to think when Jay groaned, "Ma! Don't act that way!"

She just chuckled another time and said, "You'll stay for dinner, wontcha?"

Ed came in covered in grease and oil a while after Jay and Cole had finished helping Edna prepare the table. All light was concentrated in the trailer now, being chilly and shady outside, so the little lightbulb on a string did wonders alongside snug bedpost lamps. Cole found chatting with Ed and Edna easier now. The dinner table was a small one that popped up in a few steps, but it homed all four of them. 

"So, our Sensei might be trapped in a time stream, or maybe in the past, or future," Cole explained as they ate.

"Or he might even be smack dab on Ninjago right now," Jay said. "Or maybe in another realm? Coulda that've happened?"

Ed and Edna looked lost as Cole shrugged.

"Anywho, that's why Cole's so serious all the time," Jay rambled on. "Y'know he gave up sweets?"

"Well, somebody has to take this seriously," said Cole.

"It is your sensei, hon," Ed holds his spoon pointedly at Jay.

"I am bein' serious! I just think it's fine to take a break every now and then. Mind you, this here's a break, and the reason we're even here," Jay said, very matter of factly towards the end.

Ed chuckled, acknowledging Jay had a point. "Do you two squabble like this the whole time you're together?"

"Only when we get on each others' nerves…so, yeah," Cole said. Jay laughed at that. The conversation idled on. Cole couldn't help but recall how often he and his own father would argue. It'd start with a sarcastic remark, that hit a little too close to home, and eventually escalated into yelling, and then Cole locking himself in the bathroom so that he could cry it out and cool himself down. He couldn't help but compare. He finished his soup, letting the others at the table lead his thoughts away. After they were all done, Cole and Jay were offered a night's stay.

"We can share my old bed if you wanna, Cole. I bet it can fit both of us," Jay said.

"Ah," Cole figures they'd been sharing a sleeping bag a few nights before anyway. Prolonged cuddling and hand holding was something Jay had always seemed relaxed with. "Sure."

Cole can feel the big of his back overhanging off the edge of Jay's old bed. His best friend's childhood bedroom is really just a small space separated from the rest of the trailer with a curtain. A few nostalgic belongings are placed lovingly about, but the space is mostly empty.

"It's smaller than I remember," Jay whisper-laughs. "We're packed in here like sardines.”

"It's cute when you talk like that."

"Talk like what?"

"The way your parents talk-- that's a compliment!" Cole said when Jay furrowed a brow.

"I don't mean to! It just happens."

The bed creaked with Cole's own soft laughter. It was almost pitch black in the trailer, and a few stringed up bulbs outside the window gave just enough light for Cole to make out Jay's face. 

"Hey, Cole?"

"'Mm."

"I know we can argue a lot...but no matter what, you'll always be my…" Jay sighs, or pauses, or something. "..best friend. I love you."

Cole loved Jay back. He knew he did. And he was in tune enough with his emotions to know he loved Jay differently than the way he loved his entire team.

Saying it out loud was another level of acceptance though.

He hadn't always been keen on hugs. Open arms leading into an embrace made him wonder what the person was trying to get out of him, or how long it would last until he was hurt again. He prided himself at being closed off. In being good at keeping his emotions as quiet as he could. It had kept him safe in his youth. Safe from missing his mother. Safe from hungering for his father's love and acceptance. Safe from angering his father with his tears.

But after being a ghost, unable to feel anything at all, and then becoming human again, he craved a set of arms around him. He realized that he always had.

When Jay clung to him, Cole never wanted to let go. The open and talkative ninja had puzzled him from the start, and then grew on Cole like a peppy little flower. He'd also learned that Jay concealed his emotions in his own ways. Even so, Jay had helped Cole find his voice. Jay had likely helped Cole in ways he didn't even recognize yet. He wanted to spend the rest of his life with Jay.

It hadn't seemed possible with Nya. Although now he couldn't even tell if Jay liked her much anymore, or if she returned those feelings. There was something unsaid and painful wedged between them.

Whether he had a chance now or not, Cole considered: Now, what was there to lose from love? To let himself love would be to be kind to himself, and loving others is kind to them, and kindness is a show of love. Him and Jay had been expressing their love for each other long before the words might flutter from their lips.

He learned to love the world too. He loved drawing, and his team. His family. He loved the carefully painted landscapes of Ninjago. He loved a world that had taken a cruel amount of time to reveal its ability to love Cole back.

"I love you too, Jay."

_Blue-bell, zap-trap, blue-jay, sparky, I love you,_

_I love you, I love you, I love you,_

_I love you._


End file.
